


Apart and Alone

by Lu_Jack



Category: 3 Below, Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Aliens, Fighting, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Space War, just 3 below, no trollhunters or wizards, only Krel goes to earth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28999797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lu_Jack/pseuds/Lu_Jack
Summary: Basically it's just 3 below if krel was the only one of the siblings to make it to earth.Oh, and troll hunters and wizards dont happen, so everyone's just normal teenagers. I'll still include characters from those series, but there won't be trolls or wizards or anything, just aliens.Enjoy!!I had an actual description but it was too long and they wouldn’t let me add it :(You can see it on my wattpad, and I’ll include it in the notes on the first chapter.
Relationships: Jim Lake Jr./Claire Nuñez, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Steve Palchuk/Eli Pepperjack, Toby Domzalski/Darci Scott
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	Apart and Alone

**Author's Note:**

> It's coronation day on Akaridion-5, and king-in-waiting Krel Tarron is waiting for the ceremony to start -but it won't until his adventurous sister Aja is either found after she's run away again and brought home, or until they know she's not coming (she does not wish to be queen-in-waiting, as she's told her brother many times).  
> The ceremony starts and is going smoothly fot krel, until the castle is attacked by General Morando, who wants the Akaridian throne.  
> The royals have to flee, but since Princess Aja's where about are unknown they split up, with Lieutenant Zadra heading out to find the Princess in all the chaos, while Commander Varvatos Vex takes Krel and flees the planet, along with what remains of the king and queen.  
> They end up finding a far away planet to hide on while they plan, a planet called earth. It's very primitive by Akaridion standers, but it has some upsides.  
> But krel is virtually alone here -his parents are being regenerated, his sister is still on Akaridion and may not even be alive, he only has Varvatos Vex on this planet, and he's not all that close with the Commander.  
> How will he handle being on earth all on his own?  
> Read to find out!!
> 
> Hello and welcome to the first chapter of my fanfic.  
> Hopefully this goes well!!  
> Enjoy!

Krel can hear the cheering from the crowd outside in the stadium, but he does his best to tune out the sounds and focus on his project, the little bits of metal and machinery hovering around him and accessible when needed.

Today was coronation day when he'd be officially labeled 'King-in-waiting' for all of Akaridion to see. And of course, his sister is nowhere to be found.

He shouldn't be surprised at this point, Aja is very free-spirited, and he's listened to many nights of her ranting and complaining about royal life and how she just wants to be normal. He understands that, and doesn't blame her for skipping out on the ceremony -he just wishes he wasn't the one always getting the rants from his parents when he couldn't find her.

A small buzzing sound and a tiny light blinks next to him, and he rolls his eyes before accepting the call. A small hologram screen appears and he can see his sister, dressed in a dark hood running through the streets.

"You're late," he says, turning back to his project.

"Sorry," his sister says, her voice a little distorted by the call and because she's still running, "Luug totally-"

"Don't 'Luug' me," Krel cuts her off with a smirk pointing his finger at her without even looking away from his work, "if you don't get here in five mekrons, Mama and Papa will stomp you." He said, shooting the screen a small knowing look that said she was actually going to get in trouble this time.

His sister only laughs, which he should have expected from her, "I think we both know that I won't be there at all," she said, and yes Krel does know that but it's her funeral if she skips out and something as important as this, "and we both know I don't want to be queen-in-waiting."

Krel groaned and went back to his project, "you're running away again?" He asked, before pausing and glancing over at the screen, "Hey, why are you actually running?"

His sister scoffs, "Luug decided to run away from me," she said.

"You're going to miss the ceremony," Krel said, even though there's no point. If Aja's already snuck out then there's no getting her back in time for the coronation.

"Say 'Hi' to Mama and Papa!" Aja says, ignoring Krel, before ending the call.

Just in time too, because not even sectons later his father turns down the hall and comes towards him. Krel hurries to busy himself with his project, not meeting his father's eyes.

"Krel, my son," his father begins as he places a hand on keels shoulder, "I have some bad news-"

"Aja ran away again and won't be attending the ceremony?" Krel interrupted with a small laugh, still not looking up as he pushed one of the pieces into the machine, double-checking to make sure it had fit right, "I might have spoken to her." He admits.

"I'm sorry, my boy."

"It's fine," Krel says dismissively as he glanced over at his father. Tall, with dark armor and small glowing markings on his face, not to mention the large crown that sat on his head, keels future crown. "She's a 'free spirit'." He adds.

"One day, you will be king," his father continues as if Krel hadn't said anything, "you will be king, your mother and I will be gone," Krel suppresses a cringe at that, not wanting to think about his parents being gone and leaving them all alone, "and you and Aja will be all the other has."  
Krel has gotten this speech more times than he can count. In all the fifteen keltons he'd been alive for, his parents had never let him or his sister forget that -that they'd die one day and that they'd only have each other after that. Not the best emotional speech when your seven and upset in Krel's personal opinion, but who is he to judge the parenting decisions of his parents?

"What if...what if I'm not ready to be king?" Krel asked as he finally looked up at his father, who stood a head and a half taller than Krel. 

"Of course you're not ready to be king," his father says with a laugh and a smile that says that's one of the silliest things he's ever heard, "no one is ever ready." He adds as he puts two of his hands on krel's shoulders so they're facing each other.

Krel shook his head, "no, what I mean is..." he pauses. He doesn't usually talk about this stuff with his father, or either of his parents -actually, he doesn't really talk about this with anyone, not even Aja. "What if, I'm not good enough?" He asked, his voice wavering with uncertainty. He might be smarter than his peers and most if not all of the adults on Akaridion, but he severely lacked the combat and social skills his sister excelled at. The people loved her, and while Krel was sure they didn't dislike him, he'd never had friends like Aja does, and when someone would claim to be his friend they'd soon reveal they were just trying to get closer to Aja and leave him when they'd achieved their goal of becoming her friend.  
His sister doesn't do it on purpose, he knows, because she would never do that to him, she just doesn't notice those kinds of things.

"If I know anything my son," his father says, brushing his fingers against one of keels cheeks, his glowing blue skin cool to the touch, "is that life is a series of choices, it's what we choose in the small moments that make our lives better or worse." His father explains, his voice soft yet almost grumbling from how deep it was, nothing like krel's own higher pitch voice. "You will never face these choices alone, because you will always have your family -including your sister, no matter how much she wishes to deny that she's a royal." He adds, a smile on his face.

It wasn't quite the pep talk Krel was looking for, but it would be the best he got from his father -he just didn't understand krel's feelings towards things, and while it maybe be cliche sounding to say, Krel wasn't really sure anyone understood.

He suppressed his sigh and turned back to his project, checking a few pieces over one more time before making a waving motion with two of his hands, and the remaining pieces flew together and slotted into place in the machine, right where they needed to be.

A smile broke out on krel's face, temporarily forgetting the cheering crowd just outside as he looked to his father, the newly finished device in his hands.

"Impressive." His father says, and a thrum of happiness pulses through his core at his fathers praises

"My liege," a voice cuts in, and Krel looks up to see Lieutenant Zadra walking down the hallway towards them. She was a tall intimidating woman, with hair that was up similarly to krel's, except hers was longer and a bit more curled in some places. She wore flexible but durable armor and had a stern face with glowing markings like any other Akaridion. "We must begin the ceremony." She says. And she right, they're already late since they'd been searching for Aja.

"We are ready, lieutenant Zadra," his father says, and Zadra nods before turning on her heel and walking back the way she'd come.

"Speak for yourself," Krel mumbled, shooting a glance at his father, his nervousness from before returning.

His father doesn't say anything, and instead begins to walk forwards, following Zadra towards the stadium.

"Come along Krel, king-in-waiting." His father calls of his shoulder.

Krel sighs softly before following after him. "Fine, I'm ready." He says after taking a deep breath, sounding as if he's trying to convince himself of that more than anything. "I guess." He muttered as he walked up the ramp at the end of the hall that leads directly to the arena.

The cheers may have seemed loud in the hall, but they were truly deafening in the stadium itself.

People lined the stands surround the large circular arena that overlooked the rest of Akaridion-5, they were cheering and clapping and saying things that Krel just couldn't understand with the rest of the noise.

A camera was already tracking his every move the moment he stepped into the arena, projecting him from several angles on the holographic screens to allow the people a better view, making him suddenly more aware of everything he did now that he was on public display. Keep his hands still, back straight, chin raised, don't let them see just how nervous he actually was.

The sky was beautiful, and instead of looking at the crowds or his parents that stood in the center of the arena, he focused on that. He could see the stars, floating amongst the beautiful swirls of navy and violet, blending together and looking just as beautiful as it did every day. He could name every constellation up there and began to count which he could see as he made his way across the floor, using it as a distraction.

He'd watched videos of his father's coronation more times than he could count -at first it had just been a fun video his parents showed, but then he began to watch it and study it, trying to learn what to expect and prepare himself.

He idly wondered where Aja was now, and how much trouble she'd be in for purposefully missing her own coronation when she eventually returned. She'd skipped out on similar events before, but none this important and dependent on her.

"For hundreds of keltons," his mother's loud projected voice snaps him back into attention, "Akaridion-5 stood decided between two houses." She said as Krel finally stopped a few feet away from his parents and Loth, the chief advisor. He was much shorter than his parents, just barely taller than Krel, and had a face that was flat, with two parts that split off at the top, each side holding two eyes.

His mother, while not as tall as his father, still stood a head taller than Krel. Her crown was slightly smaller and had parts that bent down to frame her face. Her hair was pulled back and even in her armor she still looked intimidatingly elegant. He was certain that when they were grown Aja would look just like her, even though she shared more physical traits with their father.

"The House of Akraohm of my ancestors," she continued as Loth held up one of the crests, " and House Ventis of my husbands," she added and Loth held up the other crest in his hand.

His father carefully took the floating crest that was offered to him and turned to face Krel as his mother continued to speak.

"Today we celebrate the joint of these two great houses, into house Tarron."

His father guided the crest forwards towards Krel, the large clear blue figure at head level with him. It was surprisingly big, larger then Krel's faced

With glowing blue circles appeared on one side of the crest, and Krel watched as they slid together to form one glowing circle.

"And declare that heir to the throne to be ready and good." His mother said, and Krel could hear the smile in her voice without even looking at her.

A moment later a small light similar to a laser shot out of the now singular circle, tracing a faint blue mark that arched from one eyebrow to the other on the center of krel's forehead.

"This ridge is the mark of our ancestors," his father began, his voice loud and booming in order to be heard by everyone.

Krel couldn't help gasping as a light shot out of him and he felt an incredible force lift him up into the air, leaving him hovering several feet off the ground as star charts and a diagram of their solar system circled around him, shining from the light that now protruded from his chest, from his core, he could vaguely hear soft gasps and oohs from the crowd, but he barely registered them, his mind almost fuzzy and buzzing with a surpassing amount of energy

"And proclaims you worthy of the crown of Akaridion, that has stood for righteousness since ages past," 

One by one parts of the glowing stars and lights surrounding him flew back into his core, before a blinding white light burst forth, a column of it shooting up into the sky as the audience was temporarily blinded, before he was slowly lowered back to the ground, and cheers shook the stadium around him.

"It is done." His mother said, as she and his father both gestured to him.

He felt shaky and wondered if he'd collapse or not but quickly brushed those worries away when he managed to stand straight and take a deep breath, his eyes wise.

"The king in waiting will now honor the tradition of a demo station of combat," his father said, and oh no Krel had almost forgotten about this part.

When he was a child he'd started combat training at the same time as his sister, but she had been a prodigy in all senses of the word, flying through the forms and exercises, whereas Krel could barely soaking a serator without almost killing himself.

When it had been realized that instead of combat he excelled in sciences and maths, his academic focuses has been shifted from fighting to those instead.

Of course he still attended combat training, but he was no where near his sisters level, and didn't think he ever could be.

"Commander Varvatos Vex, step forwards," his mother said, and of course they'd pick him.

Varvatos was a very large man, in all sense of the word. His head was large and wide, his shoulders were large and wide, he stood as tall as krel's father, and he had muscles bigger than Krel's face -actually, most of his muscles were bigger than krel's face. He had a blunt nose, four eyes, and a doe turned mouth that made him look like he was always scowling.  
He was very, very intimidating.

"Varvatos Vex is prepared to crush," the commander said as he walked forwards and circled around Krel with his arms folded behind his back. Very intimidating.

The crowd began to cheer for Vex, and Krel couldn't help feeling a twinge of sadness that they'd cheer for Varavtos but not for him. Especially when he knew that he was about to get crushed -Varvatos wasn't joking.

A hand was placed on his shoulder, and he turned his head to see his father giving him a small smile. "Relax," he said, "you'll do fine."

"And if I don't?" Krel asked with a small gulp as he glanced over at Varvatos, who was stretching a few yards away from him, the crowd still cheering his name.

"Then you'll smile and wave, like so." His father said, before stepping away from Krel to smile and wave at the crowd before returning to stand on the sidelines next to his mother.

How reassuring.

"Just go easy on me, would you?" Krel asked with a nervous yet hopeful smile.

"Varvatos will give you the honor of a glorious death," Varvatos said, and while Krel knew Vex couldn't actually kill him here, that information still didn't help him feel any better.

They began to circle each other, Krel moving whenever Varvatos moved, waiting for him to attack so he could dodge.

"You do understand this whole thing is just for show, right?" Krel asked, his anxiety turning into adrenaline that had his core buzzing and his body itching between the flight of fight instinct.

"Varvatos will show you glorious death!" Varvatos said as he drew his weapon, which was a large staff with long deadly sharp blades on each end.

Krel drew his own serator, which took the form of a much small staff with a single blade on one end. It didn't look nearly as cool and intimidating as Varvatos's.

"Begin." His mother said, and not even a moment later Varvatos was leaning several yards into the hair, spinning his weapon with a gleeful cackle before slamming it down towards krel's face.

The fun thing about serators though, is that they can form multiple different weapons -and a shield.

Thinking fast Krel quickly changed from the staff to the shield and was able to block Vavatos's attack just as it came down in him -the force sending Krel flying back several yards, but he managed to keep his feet under him.

"Varvatos will make this a memorable pummeling," Varvatos said as he pulled his weapon from where it was embedded in the floor.

Krel quickly reached for his belt and pulled out the small device he'd been working on before the ceremony.

He might not be good at fighting, but he was good at inventing, and since he knew he couldn't win in an actual fight he decided to try and use some things to his advantage. Like the rule that they could bring in and use any weapon, they wanted for the duel as long as it was within a certain size.

He pulled out the small sphere and quickly tossed it towards Varvatos's feet, the machine making a small beep as it did.

Varvatos paused and look down at it, only to cry out in surprise when a large shield-like bubble formed around him, trapping him inside and away from Krel, who sighed in relief -glad that his machine had worked.

Varvatos wasn't as dumb as he looked though. And despite his anger at being trapped he quickly found a way out of the sphere. The device itself was still half-visible from inside the sphere, and Krel winced when after only a few seconds Varvatos had discovered this and slammed one of the blades from his stack into it, destroying the device and releasing himself.

Well. That hadn't worked out as well as Krel had hoped. Now Varvatos was angry.

Krel gulped softly and backed away from Varvatos as the commander stalked towards him with a glare.

He raised his blade and Krel tensed up as he formed a shield again and prepared for a much stronger blow.

"Vex!" His father called from the sidelines, before walking towards them, both Krel and Varvatos looking up in surprise. "Would you permit me the honor of sparring with my son, old friend?" He asked, even though they all knew it wasn't a question when the king held his hand out and asked for Vex's seretor, which he quickly gave him before stalking off to the sidelines, grumbling about not being able to give Krel a glorious death.

"I sparred with my father at my coronation, and he sparred with his father before him, this is a sacred honor, Krel." His father has as he formed the same double-bladed staff Varvatos had been using, and Krel knew then that his father wasn't going to go any easier on him than Varvatos had.

"What a family," Krel mumbled as he took his own fighting stance and formed a staff with his seretor as well.

"One day you'll be able to beat me in a duel," his father said with a smirk, "you might as well begin try-"  
His father is cut off by the sound of several deafening shots that collide with the protective shield that surrounded the stadium, the force of the hits making everything shake and people cry out in terror.

Krel looks up in fear as several strykers swarm the defensive shield-like skeltegs to electronics, firing shots at the shield that begins to disintegrate and fall apart.

People are running from the stands as th ground continues to shake its every heavy hit, and Krel quickly stumbles towards his parents, looking up at them, but both of them are staring up at the sky, which is now full of explosions instead of stars.

"Those are General Morando's strykers," his mother says, and she's right. Krel recognizes those ships and knows they're the ones from the fleets General Morando commands.

His father is already shouting orders to any guards present and to the people that are still struggling to leave. "Seek refuge! Get to the shelter, now!"

Krel is quickly pulled against his father's left side, his mother now pressed to his father's right side. His father is again much taller than him, with Krel not even reaching his shoulder, so he is easily protected from any falling sparks or debris.

He's all but dragged to the sidelines of the arena where they meet Zadra as she runs up to them.

"My lieges, we must return you to the palace at once!" She says as she needs them closer to the ramp Krel had walked into the arena from not long before.

His core is racing, and he's sure his energy levels are fluctuating at speeds that are unhealthy. He knows he's a little old for this, but he can't stop as two of his arms latch onto one of his fathers and he pressed himself closer to him, feeling slightly safer when his father's arm wrapped around him tightens.

"We need to find Aja!" His mother says, and she's right Krel realizes with a pang you his core. His older sister wasn't within the shield but instead out in the city, which is now being attacked as well she wasn't protected at all and might even be-

"If the cities defenses do not hold, we cannot guarantee your safety, my royals," Loth says when they're finally in the hallway and away from the shots and debris.

"How did he disable the shield!" His father demands as he twists his head to look out the hallway from where'd they come to watch the shield as it finally fades out of existence, allowing the strykers inside.

"There is a traitor in our midst," Zadra says with a snarl as Varvatos runs up to them, his seretor drawn as he looks around carefully.

Then his father is letting go of him and walking away, and Krel immediately scrambles after him.

"Wait! Papa! Mama! I'm not leaving you!" He says as he grabs his father's wrist, and he's sure the terror on his face is as clear as day, but his father doesn't comment on it when he twists around and grabs krel's shoulder.

"You're not leaving us, you're following orders!" His father says sternly, his tone almost harsh as he squeezes Krel's shoulder.

"Now go with Varvatos, he'll keep you safe while Zadra finds your sister." He said, before dragging Krel into a brief hug that ends all too soon for Krel.

Then his father is pulling away and running down the hall and taking a left with his mother.

"Come my prince, we must get you to safety." Varvatos says as he wraps an arm around Krel's shoulders and all but drags him down the hall and to the right, "Varvatos will destroy all who try to harm you and your family." He said, and Krel assumed he was trying to be reassuring.

"Where are we going?" Krel asked as he ran with Varvatos down the hall, having to skid to a stop and scramble after him when the much larger man took a surprise sharp turn.

"To the main hall, Zadra will meet us there with your sister and your parents," Varavtos explain before pulling Krel down another hallway and up a flight of stairs.

The building was shaking, and he could hear screaming from outside, followed by the sound of more explosions and more screaming.

Why was this happening! Krel had known Morando his whole life, but suddenly a few keltons ago he had been exiled from Akaridion-5. His parents had never told him or his sister the reason but he had to assume Morando had done something horrible to get exiled.

He was panting by the time they reached the main hall, his limbs shaking from adrenaline as he looked around wildly to see if Zadra was back with his sister yet.

"What's happening! Why is Morando doing this!" Krel asked as he whirled around to face Varvatos, who still had his weapon dream.

There was another much louder explosion outside that shook the castle again, and Krel feared there were enemies in the castle now.

"Morando wants the thrown," Varvatos said, "he was exiled many keltons ago when he attempted to have you and your sister killed so that he could challenge your father to the throne since he'd have no heir."

"What! And no one thought this was important for me or Aja to know!?"

"Your parents thought it best to raise you both without the fear of treason, and instead wanted you to focus on your studies and training." Varvatos said, "the decision was made, whether it was good or bad is too late now."

There's another explosion and Krel flinches as part of the ceiling crashes down a few yards away.

"Retreat!" He hears his mother's voice yell from the other side of the hall, and then his parents and running in and closing the door behind them.

"Papa! Mama!" Krel yells when he sees his parents, quickly scrambling over to them as they run towards him.

He's immediately caught in a hug f Tom his mother, and he's never held onto her this tightly before in his life.

"Where is your sister?" His father asks, and Krel can see him looking around for her as another explosion shakes the building, and Krel can now hear the heavy footsteps marching down the hall leading towards them.

"Zadra has yet to return with the Princess, or send any word," Varvatos said, and Krel feels his mother's grip on him tighten slightly.

"The Taylon have betrayed us," his father says to Varvatos, "we are forced to retreat."

"What about Aja?" Krel asked as he pulled his face away from his mother's shoulder to look up at his father.

"She'll meet us with Zadra when she's found," his father said, "for now we must stick together."

"Don't worry, you will always have each other, even if you're apart," his mother reassures, and Krel frowns but nods anyway.

"My king, my queen, without the protection of the Taylon there is no where safe for you on Akaridion, we cannot guarantee your safety here," Varvatos said and Krel can see how much it pains him to admit that. "We must leave here at once."

Krel's mother pulls away, and out of the corner of his eye he sees movement as she stands and turns to talk to father and Varvatos. He glanced over at the large window that overlooked the city and gasped when he saw Morando's control ship fly up and fill up the entire window.

A hand quickly dragged him back and forced him to stand behind his father, who the hand belong to, while he and his mother drew their weapons, quickly followed by Varvatos.

"You cannot win, royals," Morando said through the speakers of his ship, his voice echoing around them. "Surrender to me!"

There must have been some commanded, because then the strykers are firing at the window, which easily shatters.

"Get to the mother ship!" His mother yells as Morando's ship opens and the gangplank begins to materialize through the hole that was once the window.

Krel runs with his parents as shots are fired at them, glancing back in time to see the traitorous soldiers marching down the gangplank towards them, Morando in the lead.

"Fialkov!" Morando yells, and Krel skids to a stop when he hears his parents stop running behind him.

Morando is standing there, glaring at his parents with his arm raised and his fist clenched.

His parents look back at him, and he can see the fear in their eyes, something he's never seen there before.

"Fire!"

The enemy soldiers immediately begin to fire upon them, and his parents quickly take a stance and activate their seretor shields.

But it's not enough.

Krel feels his core stop when his mother's shield deactivates due to the onslaught of attacks, quickly followed by his fathers, and he can only watch as both of them drop to the ground under the sea of laser shots.

"No! Morando no!" Varvatos yells before running past Krel, who's still frozen to the spot. He watches as Varvatos quickly activated a barrier and kneels next to his parents, who aren't moving.

Krel can't take his eyes off of his parents, not when Varvatos props the his father up. He's talking too him, but Krel can't hear the words.

He can't look away as he sees the blue lights as his parents begin to disintegrate, he can't look away as they finally fade away and leave Varvatos clutching their cores tightly. He can't hear Varvatos as he mourns, he can't hear the enemy shots anymore, all he can do, is look at the glowing blue cores of his parents in Varvatos's hands.

Then Varvatos is charging forwards and scooping Krel up in one arm, his parents cores cradled in the other, and Krel is finally snapped out of it.

"Mama...papa..." he says softly as he looks at their cores, only to suddenly flinch and curl his head down when a shot just the ground next to them and explodes.

Varvatos is running to the control panel, and then he's shoving his parents cores into Krel's hands before he immediately begins punching in numbers, raising a shield up and around them to protect them from enemy fire. They've o broken in from the main doors now too, they're completely surrounded.

The floor shakes and then it slowly begins to rise up, and Krel realizes that Varvatos is taking them to another ships hanger.

"No! What about Aja!" Krel demands as he clutches his parents cores tighter. Aja is still out there, and Zadra, they can't leave without them.

"I will contact Zadra and tell her what's happened, she and the Princess can join us later -they cannot join us if we are dead before that," Varvatos said, "Varvatos has sworn to protect you, on his kings wishes, and protect you he shall!"

Krel, still tightly held in one of Varvatos's arms, doesn't know what to say. He doesn't want to leave Aja, he wants his big sister, but if they don't leave Morando will kill them, and with Mama and Papa in their cores...Krel doesn't know what to do.

Morando is shouting something below them, but Krel can't hear him and doesn't want to. He wishes today had never happened. Then Aja wouldn't have run away again, and Mama and Papa would still be here, and they wouldn't be under attack...

The platform has gone up and into mother ships hanger, and Krel is out down as they both run into the ship, Varvatos immediately calling up the controls.

"Varvatos mourns, too." He says, "but grief must wait for survival!"

A floating chair quickly scoops Krel up, and he can't help clutching his parents cores closer.

"Engines starting up." He hears Mother say, the A.I. programmed into the mother ship.

Krel can see the soldiers already outside the ship and in the hangers, and flinched when they immediately beginning firing at them as the ship begins to take off.

Then something much larger hits them and the entire ship shakes and lurches to the side before crashing into the wall.

Varvatos is already on it though, and instead of exciting from the launch zone he instead flies the ship straight through the wall, bursting out of the castle before taking off into the sky, dodging the strykers that chase after them.

"We have achieved maximum velocity." Mother says through the speakers.

"Prince Krel! Take care of your parents before it is too late for them!" Varvatos orders, not looking up from the controls.

Krel all but jumps out of his chair and onto the shaking platform.

"I'll be right back!" He yells before taking off into the ship, ignoring Varvatos's cry of "unless we explode!" In favor of tuning to the medical bay.

He stumbled into the room before activating the reintegration stasis pods.

"Indicate operation."

"Mother! Save Mama and Papa, take their cores!" Krel says as he looks from the floating icon that represents Mother down to his parents' cares that he still has clutched tightly in his second set of hands.

"Initiating reintegration stasis. Rewriting the King and Queens molecular code."

"Fix them, Mother ship, please fix them!" 

He feels the ship lurch and knows they've gone into hyper mode, Alaridion-5 is now long behind them, which means Morando and his foxes are as well.

"Time to completion, unknown," Mother says, and Krel sighs softly as he looks between the cores of his parents, now floating in the floating orange regeneration pods.

He quietly walks out of the room after making sure nothing was wrong. The ship was flying steady now, and he found himself sitting in front of one of the view windows, watching the mess of speeding light outside. He can't see any stars, or planets, just blurred light as they fly at hyper speed.

He missed Aja. He missed his parents top of course, but he knew where they were, and while they were injured he knew they'd eventually get better. He didn't know where Aja was, he didn't know if she was hurt or still alive, and the gnawing guilt of leaving her behind finally began to eat away at his core.

How could he do that? He left his big sister behind in the war zone that was once their home! Morando would find her and kill her, and it would be all his fault. He'd left her behind, his big sister was going to die if she wasn't dead already and it was all his fault.

He eventually picks himself up and walks back to where Varvatos is speaking with Mother.

"Mother, we need to head somewhere they won't think to look for us." Varvatos says as Mother pulls up various solar systems around them, the holographic figures hovering in the air. "the worse the planet, the better for us."

"I can only locate two planets which fit your description," mother said, and most of the solar systems disappeared, leaving only two planets. "One is about to be devoured by a black hole."

"Huh, maybe not that one," Krel mumbled softly, brushing the planet away before it too disappeared.

"The other is a floating ball of mud and water," Mother continued, "it's inhabitants named it after dirt, they call it 'Earth'."

The planet was rather small, so Krel cupped his hands around it before spreading his arms, and the planet quickly grew in size. It actually looked rather pretty, with various shades of green and blue patches, mostly blue though.

"This seems to be an adequate place for hiding and keeping safe," Varvatos said with a nod, "once we've settled in we shall attempt to send a trans motion to Zadra and the queen-in-waiting." He said, before turning to the controls and setting a course for this 'Earth'.

Krel found himself asleep for the majority of the trip there. It wasn't a restful sleep though, his mind still anxiously buzzing about everything and the guilt still eating at his core. But it made the trip go by faster, so that was something.

"My prince, we are entering Earths atmosphere, prepare for a bumpy landing," Varvatos said, waking Krel up from his most recent nap.

And it really was a bumpy landing. They must not have been able to slow down in time, since they ended up crashing into the planet and skipping across its surface before finally stopping with a large thunk.

Thoroughly jostled and almost nauseous, Krel got out of his chair with a relieved sigh. "We didn't explode." He said with a small smile.

"Of course not," Varvatos said with a laugh, "Varvatos was at the helm."

"And yet we're still alive," Krel mumbled to himself as he turned to look out the large view-shield that showed what was outside the ship.

"Systems damaged." Mother cut in before Varvatos could say anything.

"Engage protective force field," Varvatos said as the interior of the ship righted itself so everything was face up and functional.

"Force shield inoperable," Mother said.

"Reroute all power to the camouflage matrix," Varvatos said.

"Complying," mother said, "I have chosen a model based on this planets primitive transmissions they broadcast at sunlight speed, so they're bound to be rather old." She explained.

Krel hummed softly in acknowledgment before turning to look out at the planet again. It was dark outside, and the sky was filled with stars, and Krel wondered if this is how the planet always was or if it would have a daylight period as well. There were various forms of plant life that he could see, some that looked to be smaller than his fingers, and others that were taller than Varvatos. He wondered what they were called, he'd have to ask mother about that.

Suddenly one of the holo-screens lit up and a small alarm began to beep.

"Several of the indigenous life forms are approaching. They may be hostile." Mother said.

The screen showed a small group of people approaching the Mother ship. They all had pale pink-ish skin and various different colors of hair, ranging from golden, to red-ish, to dark almost black, or maybe actually black Krel couldn't tell. M

We're this planets inhabitants nocturnal? And they all dressed so differently too, and they had various heights and body shapes as well, yet all had the same number of limbs and eyes and legs, how curious.

"Varvatos will stay them all!" Varvatos said with a wide grin as he stared at the approaching group.

"You cannot kill everyone," Krel said as he raised an eyebrow at him, "we are in hiding."

"But for Varvatos, death is a way of life!" And while that was true they really didn't want to anger the other inhabitants by killing some, that would be very bad.

They're just outside now, and one of the humans -a tall skinny one with dark hair, reaches forwards and then there's a sudden dining inside mother ship that echos through the metal halls.

"What is that awful noise," Krel grumbled as he quickly covered his ears.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" The person calls, before glancing back at its companions. "We're wondering if you heard any loud noises or saw anything in this area?"

"They must have heard us crash," Krel said, "that means Mother's camouflage is working!"

"These life forms seem quite persistent," Mother says, and she's correct. Another from the group has stepped forwards and know there is a knocking sound -not as bad as the bell sound, but still not pleasant.

"We cannot let it see us," Varvatos said with a grumble.

"So what? We're trapped in here forever?" Krel asked.

"Of course not," Varvatos said, "eventually we'll be found by Morando's forces and massacred ever so slowly."

"We have to at least by time for the ship to repair Mama and Papa." Krel said, "wait, I have an idea!" Krel said as a grin split out across his face, "Mother ship, what is the state of the transduction chambers?" He asked, looking up at the ceiling.

"Nominal. What is your question?" Mother asked.

"You could reconfigure our energies into a form that resembles this planet's life forms," Krel explained.

"They call themselves 'Humans'." Mother put in helpfully.

"Mother, you have to design us forms that no one will ever pay attention to," Varvatos said as he and Krel began to walk towards the transduction chambers, "you need to make us invisible!"

"I have chosen two forms that people on the mud planet tend to ignore," mother said as they stopped in front of the chamber. "The first is called a Latino,"

"I don't understand, what is a La-tino?"

"You, Commander Vex, will be reconfigured as a senior citizen." Mother continued.

"Glorious! Varvatos should be senior to all!" Varvatos preened, "both forms sound like winners!" He added, before the chamber was activated and they were consumed by a bright light.

When the light faded Krel found himself with park almost squishy skin and even darker hair that hung down below his ears. He only had two arms, and he felt heavier almost. This was weird.

Varvatos was weirder. Now he was shorter than Krel, which he found kind of funny, and had pale saggy skin and short grey hair.

Their clothes were different too, Krel was in some kind of soft blue shirt and pants, and Varvatos had a lighter blue shirt with a red coat on. He also had some sort of strange weapon, that Mother actually explained was to help him walk. Apparently senior citizens were 'fragile'. 

"Come! Let us go face these 'who-mans'!"

The two of them made their way out of the mother ship and into the house they had as camouflage, it looked nice in a primitive sort of way. Not too bad.

Krel walked towards the door, and carefully opened it, only for Varvatos to cut in front of him and glare out at the Humans that were still there, raising his 'cane' threateningly:

"Prepare to be destroyed, who-mans!" Varvatos yelled.

The group looked surprised and several of them stepped backward and away from Varvatos.

"Um, hello," Krel said from behind Varvatos, giving the group an awkward wave.

Weren't they supposed to not be provoking the inhabitants? Last Krel checked that didn't include destroying.

Ai yi yi, Varvatos was going to get them both killed.

**Author's Note:**

> And huzzah! First chapter  
> Woo  
> How'd yalls like that?  
> Good, I hope!!  
> The next one will be out soon!!  
> Bye!!!


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